12.25.3013: Exchanging Notes
Summary: Rozlyn visits Cedric and the two discuss what the two have found in the past recent days.
Date: 28 October 2013
Related: Futility and the Resort logs
Cedric Rozlyn 


Cedric and Lyrienne's Apartments
More penthouse than mere apartment, the floor plan for this abode involves open spaces and minimal dividers. A small foyer opens up into the main living room painted a soft, muted grey to give the impression of clean lines and simplicity. Holos in frames of Cedric, Lyrienne and their family adorn the walls of this exceptionally tidy space. Platinum disc awards for music granted to Lyrienne over the years have been given a place of honor on the wall opposing the entrance. Modest couches crowd around a coffee table upon which sits one of Cedric's model ships.

The other rooms within the home consist of a normal layout: a kitchenette and dining area are ajoined to the living room, a master bedroom, two seperate other bedrooms for their children, and an office that Cedric and Lyrienne both share containing his desk and her grand piano. A balcony from both the master bedroom and kitchen area lead onto a hanging patio that offers a sprawling view of the rest of the Ring from down below.

Dec 25 3013

Since the Razorwing, Rozlyn has been busy processing what data they did manage to collect. She already had a request in to speak with the Hostile contained at Landing and since the clip was leaked across the Infosphere, the eldest Orelle daughter used some of her leverage as a Paramount and scientist to get the meeting time pushed up in the lists. While many things in the world do pass unnoticed when she's caught up within her work, Roz will never miss something pertaining to her favorite sibling and his wife. So it can be of little surprise that she's striding into their apartments — why knock when it's family? — during daytime hours when she'd normally be busy in the labs. "Ric?"

It takes a bit, Cedric has been squestering himself in his study for the past couple of days, othering than wrangling the kids when he had to due to Lyrienne's injury. He himself came out of the escapade at the resort unharmed, but not quite unscathed. So when a minute or so passes, the airlock whooshes open. "Roz.." he blinks. "Of all the people I'd expect to see during a workday, you're likely near the bottom of that list. Come in. To what have I earned this rare pleasure of your appearence."

"Any other time and the likelihood is quite slim. I have done the numbers." A joke for her younger brother. He's the only one that seems able to get them. Generally. Rozlyn closes the distance between them, intent on bringing Cedric into a close hug. "I heard what happened and had to check on my favorite family. How is Lyri?" A pause, to step back and study him. She had not heard of any injuries, but she also knows those military sorts like to downplay any they do receive. "How are you?"

"I'm sure you have. I'll have to adjust my own for this variance. I'll note it into the 'anomoly' category." Cedric remarks dryly, smiling. The hug is returned. "You caught the household on an off day. Marus is in school, and Lyri took Lyssie and Julian to daycare before she went to get her shoulder checked on again. "Lyri is going to be fine. Pretty decent shoulder injury, but nothing that can't be fixed. Yes, the twins are alright." he adds in reference to the pair of infants his wife is currently carrying. "Me? I'm…" he looks in the direction of the study. "I didn't get hurt if that's what you're asking, but there's been something on my mind. Enough that I've been doing research. I've also found the limits to the military clearance. First time that Naval Intelligence has told me 'request denied'."

"An anomaly would be my presence without outside cause. What happened at the resort is more than cause for my arrival." Rozlyn does smile; something that only Cedric and his family see on a regular basis. She places a hand on his shoulder, frowning as he speaks. She knows Cedric well enough- well enough to know when something is on his mind. "They do love to place layer after layer of restrictions on information. There are places my qualifications will not allow me to go as well. What are you requesting? Perhaps we can work it out together."

"Fair enough." Cedric nods, leading her back into his study. "I was involved in a lengthy violent discussion with a Hostile. Before we killed it anyways. But it also said something that I hadn't anticpated before, something that made me curious enough to look into it. And curious that the footage of the Hostile known as Sarah got out." In his study is one of his message boards that he usually leaves open for military paperwork, roster changes, equipment, that sort of thing. It's covered with paperwork, colored strings pinned from one paper to one of three circles on the board, labeled Imperius, Cantos, and Earth. "I've been operating under the knowlege that Hostiles were nothing more than cloned drones of a geater hand. Maybe an alien race. Or some old alien artifact that had been dormant for so many untold millenia before we set foot on Cantos. But being told by that Hostile that we had 'abandoned them' has been bothering me, so I've been doing some digging. And like that footage that was leaked, I believe we've been fighting our own people. Worse off that than, I believe this entire conflict, all three wars stemmed from a series of timely mistakes and miscommunication."

He gestures at the board. "I've come to believe that the war is the result of an unfortunate mistakes, mechanical and clerical errors. Their Gate failed and we had no way to communicate with them. On their side they hoped for a rescue that never came. Over so many centuries of feeling that they were left to die on a hostile world barely able to support life, what likely a very heavy sense of social paranoia, and hate-mongering, we've come to the conflict we're at now. But that doesn't take away the original point: this war didn't have to happen. But…as much as I feel it's wrong, I fear we have come to this realization far too late for any other solution -but- conflict."

Within the study, Rozlyn listens as she reads over the paperwork. And Cedric would know he still has her full attention. Multi-tasking is something her career often requires. Especially when running a lab. A furrow does take her brow as she takes all the information in, lips pressing into a thin line. "Since we failed to get the data I was after off the Hostile ship, I had a request in to speak with Sarah. Since that footage surfaced, I managed to get my name pushed up the list. Perhaps I can… inquire as to some of these things." She pins the paper she was reviewing back to the board, turning to her brother. "The thing that puzzles me, however… This here," she gestures to one of them, "says that colonization of the fifth planet did not occur until it was within range. Centuries passed before it occured. Would the colonists that went there not have been aware that their world would pass out of range? I feel as if something else has happened." She has that look on her features. The one that says her mind is working fairly rapidly. Eyes unfocus slightly and she crosses her arms just beneath her chest. "There is a piece we are missing, Ric. Something must have happened to them over there. Something to lead them to forget that we had to wait for the planet to be in range. That we were not positive the Ways would hold. I cannot see any leader or scientist offering an absolute in that regard for something so untested."

"Likely that's one thing I wasn't given clearance on, if that information even exsists." Cedric replies. "But…they would have to know, wouldn't they? Maybe they just believed it wouldn't be an issue given their faith in Waygate technology, though…it's possible that nobody had ever tested a Waygate limits on distance. But, watered down, a Waygate is simply a stable wormhole, isn't it? Distance shouldn't be an issue. If that's the case, how far away shoudln't of been an issue." He shrugs. "Panic. Paranoia. That festers and breeds pretty quickly, likely moreso when you're living in an enviroment that's as harsh as Cantos seemed to be at the time of colonization. Maybe those rational people were killed or overthrown, replaced by those who had come to believe that they were abandoned. Fear of that can breed both of those things and it can spread quite quickly. But I do agree that there's something we're missing, however, I still confident if the Waygate had acted as it should've, we wouldn't of seen millions if not billions of humans dead at each other's hands."

He rocks back on his feet after a moment. "Do you suppose the Waygate was intentionally unresponsive. Not by us, but by them? Granted, if our government at the time was doing some rather unscrupulous things, I can't find evidence of it. But there's always possibility it wasn't the government. Could've been a section of workers or colonists on Cantos that wanted it to malfunction? See, that's the other part. I was trying to find background profiles on the Cantos colonists, both the ones there to work the terraforming and those who were temporary, and I can't get any data on them. That's restricted clearance too. I plan on talking to grandfather about it."

Taking Cedric's chair in the study, Rozlyn sits down to lean back and take in a view of all he's laid out. The furrow in her brow remains and a frown is soon added to it. "The twelve-hundred who were there temporarily are the ones I would be most curious to find details on." Her foot taps slightly against the floor. "We should find this blood relative mentioned in the footage. Find out who their ancestors were at the time of settling Cantos. If we have a specific name, I am certain there would be a path to open records from there."

"How was the Gate at Lazarus shut down?" The question comes of a sudden, the woman blinking and turning to look at her brother.

"That…I'm not sure about." Cedric admits. "It was all sketchy details and our goal was to make sure they couldn't use it, which they hadn't. So my guess is that someone inside the resort was able to shut it down before the Hostile got to it. Any other details I hadn't really expected would correlate to each other. I could be mistaken in that assumption, though." There's a glance back at the board on the wall. "This is theory and suppisition, but works, Roz. Either this was orchestrated on our side, their side, or it really was a just a bad string of events that led it to that point. I'm not sure which one seems the most credible."

He rubs at his forehead. "The latter personally, but I suppose it's more than fesible that it could either of the former two. But even if that's the case, why would be to gain and why? Did someone want to start their own little country away from Imperius? These 'temporary workers' were something else? Terrorists? Sepratists? Something else?" he shakes his head. "I don't want to assume anything like that, because it wouldn't make any sense to hide that information. You'd think if that was case, letting everyone know would only spur against them all the more harder."

"That seems an odd choice for a resort to make," Rozlyn admits, brow furrowing. "Military would make the move to shut down a gate and put hundreds of guests, including nobles, at risk. A resort? If word got out that they cut their guests off from rescue, they would be ruined in the public image." She pushes to her feet, folding arms again. "We should find out for certain, if we can. I will not hesitate to remind you that I can still overpower you on the mats if you bring up gut feelings…" Which she doesn't believe in. "but I feel there may be a link in that regard. If not, well. One less thing to worry about."

Removing her tablet from a pocket, Rozlyn starts taking a series of notes. "I have never bothered as it is such an old and stable technology, but I do believe it may be time to learn all I can on the Ways and run some simulations. Are you scheduled to depart any time in the near future?"

"It's the -sane- choice for any resort to make." Cedric remarks. "You figure you that your place is crawling with Hostiles, the first thing you should do is shutdown the Waygate. I would have to think that any installation that has one installed that is the first line in the handbook for any kind of catastrophe dealing with Hostiles. Deactivate it or destroy it. Well, if you -can- destroy it. It might be a moot point, I don't know. If you want to track that down, be my guest, I suppose it might mean something, but I never gave it much thought."

"I can't say it's something I know a great deal amount of either. Just that it works and it's based on spacial physics principles that I was never really able to wrap my head around." He shakes his head at her last question. "Not for some time yet. I cleared any pressing appointments, I'm going to talk to our grandfather, see if I can get some of these classified answers from him. If he's lucid anyways. We know how grandfather can be sometimes if he's off his medication."

"The one thing I have found," Rozlyn says, not looking up from her tablet, "when dealing with matters of media and the public is that sanity is rarely involved. We are at the beginning edge of the war. You and I were raised for it. Many… well, many thought they would never see it. People became… complacent. They care more of their celebrities and material trappings."

Putting the device back in her pocket, she turns towards Cedric once again. "Speak to him. Let me know what you learn. I will gather information on the Ways and the history behind their technology."

"I have the sensation that this will manage to be a fruitless endevour, Roz." Ced says after a pause. "Too much bad blood and hate on both sides to really want to listen to anything else. They want their war, and nothing is going to stop them from having it. Even if that means the end result is that everyone dies in process. And the ruins of our planets will be a silent testament to anyone else, human or otherwise who happens across this system to ask 'what happened'. Part of me wonder if there's even a point to it. Hostiles are not dumb, they're human. So there's something I believe that's making them see all this. I've wondered if it's an inbred hate. They're clones, correct? Or at least Sarah is. I wonder if that's something that's simply coded into their creation. Because that's all they know. It'd be at least one rational reason why we're being killed for something our ancestor may of done."

"One of the things you quickly learn as a scientist, Ric, is that even failures are not fruitless. Every piece of information leads to the answer. If one of our paths should lead to an answer that does not move us forward? We at least know what the answer is not." Rozlyn watches Cedric for a moment, stepping in again to grasp lightly at his arm. Just over the elbow. "Ric, we will figure this out. If not you and I, then others. Your children will be safe."

"I wonder which is more appealing." Cedric wonder darkly. "That I helped stopped the fighting so that my family can live in peace. Or that I would be a mass murderer upon bombing the surface of Cantos to glass. Because that's the end result, Roz. We haven't yet decided to start using our 'final solutions'. Both of which would end the war, I only wonder which would better. I don't want to be one of the ship Captains involved in something like that. Only if I had to be." He sighs. "I don't want that much blood on my hands."

And here, perhaps, is the most stark difference between them. Rozlyn's expression barely changes. The tilt of her brow is only in concern for her brother. There's a squeeze to his arm before her hand falls away. "They would do the same to us."

"I wonder why they haven't." Cedric ponders aloud. "Shields can resist energy weapons, but not tatical nuclear strikes. Buildings and cities aren't shielded. Neither are ships. And they had the element of surprise. They could have bombed up right away, ended the war with their own victory before it even began. But they didn't." He glaces at his sister from the corner of his eye. "Maybe. But we're all humans here. We have to better than that."

"They do not take hostages. They kill without regard as to who they are killing… I believe they are not as human as they would have us believe." Because, really, when you display less humanity than Rozlyn? That puts you fairly low on the scale. "If they are human with cybernetic enhancements to the degree they have… Like as not they want our resources. I think we should be more on the lookout for methods of genocide that would not destroy the planet."

"That still doesn't take away my point." Cedric notes. "Even if there are other methods they could employ that would cause a mass genocide on a planetary scale that would simply destroy human, why haven't they? Likely because they're still human as well, I imagine." He shakes his head. "Doesn't matter. I believe that this war can end without more bloodshed for forty years. That's all that matters. And if it doesn't work? Then my hand will simply be forced. And I'll have to live with that."

"I am not certain I can agree. Every piece of evidence we have shows to them attempting to kill as many of us as possible. Never mind, Ric, the horrific methods they use. Even the worst of our criminals do not do some of the things they have done." Rozlyn frowns slightly and lets out a slow breath. "Well, all we can do is focus on what we know and the paths available to us at this time."

Cedric nods absently. Talking it over like this over and over, even with someone as brilliant as his sister isn't going to lead to any decent answers. He turns his arm about to look at his watch. "I need to pick up Lyri and kids. Incase she needs help getting them home. I shouldn't hold you up more than I already have, Roz. We can talk about this more once we've both gotten more information to use. Until then, find what you can. Talk to that Sarah woman, see if she has anything useful or different to offer. Likely I'm entirely wrong about all of this. I'd rather not. Even if part of me can't shake the feeling that all of this might've been planned somehow."

"Difficult to shake such a feeling when basic information such as colonist names is kept out of our reach." Rozlyn can at least acknowledge such a feeling as that. She leans in to hug Cedric again, exhaling a bit of a sigh. "Call on me when you need, Ric. You have two more on the way to add to your brood. You need not carry this all alone."

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